3

How the Media Environment is Structured

theory

There is an insurmountable gap between the concepts of information and knowledge. The part of the content that we place on exhibition media—embedded in exhibits or accompanying texts—is knowledge for the research group, but information for the audience. For information to become knowledge for the audience, it must undergo a transformation process. We need to create forms of representation and conditions for their perception.

We understand its field of application and know how to use it.

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We can transmit it in a comprehensive and conscious manner, and our understanding is deep enough to ensure continuity and the possibility of scaling.

We can include it in a system of other knowledge—we see connections with other subject areas.

To transmit knowledge, one needs to understand how the perception of information is structured: how the channels of assimilation, transmission, and scaling work, and what interferences arise along this path.

3.1

Features of the Media Environment

Imagine you are walking down the street—from home to the office. How many sources of information do you encounter on this path? How do you react to them?

We know that almost every visitor to an exhibition owns a smartphone. Information from this source coexists with the exhibition's content in a single space. Furthermore, perception is influenced by many factors: what the person's day was like, what they learned or felt before the visit, how other levels of informational pressure affect them—from local to global.

The information field changes under the influence of the slightest signals. The attitude towards information and the way it is stored changes every time the environment changes. When designing an exhibition environment, we must anticipate possible interferences and create conditions in which information is transformed into knowledge.

Imagine that there are two people in front of you, and they are talking to each other

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(e.g., lecture, conference, presentation, tea party)

(e.g., building, tree, turnstile, rain)

(e.g., phone, tablet, computer, television, game console, projection)

Screen-based media represent a nested environment. They often have a physical interaction scenario, yet we cannot enter into a physical relationship with the images we perceive from the screen. This creates a barrier in terms of trust and engagement with the information.

Practically every object in the physical environment we are in is a carrier of information. At the same time, sensitivity to this information depends on an internal demand or its direct influence on us.

Screen-based

Oral communication has a high potential for immediate engagement of our attention, but the long-term sustainability of this attention depends on the quality of interpersonal communication: closeness, trust, reputation, interest, potential benefit, and other factors.

Environmental

These are carriers with which direct physical contact occurs. We keep the contained information in focus because our body is involved in the communication at every moment.

(e.g., book, postcard, letter, apple, dress, hug, headphones)

Oral

Why do we distinguish between types of carriers and types of interaction with them?
Because within a single social network, which we interact with through the same device—for example, a phone—several types of interaction can exist at once: for example, private messages and a feed. The levels of trust and attention in these two cases will differ significantly.

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We or the information are in motion. Example: scrolling a social media feed, ads on an escalator, a billboard on the road. The process of movement does not allow attention to focus and requires the creation of conditions in which we are forced to stop either ourselves or the information.

We turn to information with a specific intention. The duration of attention depends on how well it meets our expectations of content quality. Example: we came to an exhibition or a lecture, visited a website on a topic of interest to us.

Types of interaction with information

Flowing or fleeting

We perceive information based on the quality of interpersonal communication: reputation, trust, and other factors. Example: attention to what an interlocutor says depends on our attitude towards them.

Intentional

We do not have an initial motivation or interest in the information, but our attention shifts due to a suddenly emerged need or a sudden interest. Example: we hear an announcement over a loudspeaker about our flight being delayed.

Personal

Spontaneous

ram case

"Sound and Silence": voice messages for Maisat

The "Sound and Silence" exhibition concluded with an installation featuring mirrors and headphones. A viewer, sitting on a stool, found themselves in front of a mirror, saw their reflection, and in the headphones heard a monologue from a stranger. The monologues were stylistically recorded like voice messages in WhatsApp. Next to the mirror, there was a QR code, which the viewer could use to send a reply message. The text on the sign: "Maisat has recorded a voice message for you. You can send her a reply by scanning the QR code."

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Viewers got the feeling that the recording was addressed to them personally. This prompted a large portion of visitors to leave text and voice messages using a Telegram chatbot, giving consent for their publication. After the exhibition ended, we passed on the messages left by the viewers to all the protagonists of the installation. This step beyond the physical and temporal space of the exhibition became an important communicative effect of the exhibition. We managed to build a literally personal connection between the project's protagonists and the viewers.

theory

3.2

User Interaction Scenarios

Сценарии взаимодействия
с пользователем

In designing a positive viewer engagement scenario, one can rely on the classic AIDA marketing model (Attract / Interest / Desire / Action), which describes the algorithm for inviting a customer to purchase a product or service:

• Attract — to attract and switch attention from other sources.
• Interest — to create interest.
• Desire — to evoke a desire to possess.
• Action — to prompt to action, purchase.

If we try to apply this model to the engagement scenario at an exhibition, we can identify the following stages-actions:

Stop the viewer's attention and create a new focus. It is necessary to create points where the person experiences a physical or emotional attraction to the content.

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Form trust and empathy for the content.

Hold attention and deepen immersion—to the extent required for the quality assimilation of key messages.

Convey and leave in memory the key meanings, preparing the viewer for the planned effects.

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Invite the viewer to be a carrier of the idea, encourage them to share information and scale the effect.

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ram case

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How did we switch the viewer’s channel of attention at the "Sound and Silence" exhibition? After buying a ticket and leaving their outerwear in the cloakroom, the viewer entered a darkened corridor, at the end of which was the explication—a white, brightly lit spot, the only bright accent in the space. A green LED strip led to the explication, indicating the only possible path. After reading the introductory text, the viewer opened a dark curtain and found themselves in another darkened, long room. There, dozens of batal—bells used by shepherds for their livestock—were hung at different heights. Each of them was also illuminated. Almost all viewers reached out to make a sound themselves, and even just by passing by, brushing against them with their shoulder, they involuntarily joined in the soundscape. The space was filled each time with a unique composition performed by the visitors. The sound itself transported one from the urban context to a mountain landscape—to a place where herds of sheep and goats graze behind a hill.

The sound experience became not only a way of physical engagement (through touching the bell) but also an element of participation. I—make a sound. And sound, as one of the most space-filling media, literally helped to switch the visitor to a different wavelength and change the mood of the environment.

theory

3.3

Obstacles and Tools for Dialogue

No matter how much detached objectivity is praised in the presentation of materials, it is precisely the individual and personal approach in design that becomes the main competitive advantage and the factor that markedly distinguishes individual messages from the general mass of data rushing past us. Perhaps the only thing that can still claim uniqueness is human DNA. Therefore, strengthening and developing the private and personal in media projects becomes a crucial technology.

High competition for attention

An authorial approach

What tools will help us overcome these obstacles?

Information flows are intense, multi-channel, spontaneous, and chaotic. Small and large messages, requests, and advertisements bombard us simultaneously from a multitude of sources. Competing flows can be of different origins: a phone call, a work email, a social media post, lunchtime, a boiling kettle, a sudden rain—all of these compete for attention. Therefore, at the entry point level, it is necessary to do everything possible to create a bright and persistent desire in the viewer to get acquainted with the project.

What tools will help us overcome these obstacles?

The development of technology is making access to content increasingly easier, and quality content is ceasing to be something elitist. The emergence of teams in related professional fields and in the field of media projects contributes to an ever-increasing number of high-level products, which are no longer the prerogative of news agencies, the professional journalistic community, or design studios. The audience is becoming increasingly demanding of content and more sophisticated in the variety of formats and genres.

What tools will help us overcome these obstacles?

Precise audience segmentation

Saturation of the media market

In a market with high supply and wide variety, it is necessary to define the audience as precisely as possible, to conduct a deep analysis of those categories it is aimed at. One needs to think not only about the interests and tasks of the project's authors but also to try to respond to the needs of future viewers. When making a choice, the viewer will prefer the project in which they see a reflection of themselves, their interests, and values.

Against the backdrop of general fatigue and oversaturation, the audience is particularly scrupulous in filtering and reacts negatively to any attempts to impose and sell them something, even if it's a story about a person. Therefore, in the project's promotion strategy, it is important to separate two fundamentally different approaches—not to advertise, but to promote the project's meanings through its substantive, deep presentation in every touchpoint with the audience.

The rhythm of life

Promoting meanings, not projects

All modern processes of business and personal life are accelerating. Even if it's not always obvious, people are constantly in a state of time deficit and a desire to optimize, automate, and speed up consumption and its related resources. There is a feeling that this race is somewhat exaggerated and artificially fueled by technological trends. However, convincing a person here and now to spend more time, to stop, to think—at a moment when they are immersed in the context of an all-encompassing rush—is a very extraordinary task.

The development of social networks and the virtualization of human relationships also play a role in redefining words like "trust" and "reputation." Acquiring them is becoming increasingly complex and multi-stepped. The abundance of disordered information flows provokes the audience to treat content with distrust by default and does not always encourage an individual search for honest and truthful content.

Integrity and continuity

Presumption of distrust

Reputation and trust are continuous concepts: they do not begin with the project and do not end after its completion. These are constant values that form the environment around the author or collective and, accordingly, determine their place in this world and the world's attitude towards them.

The main indicator of a successful project is not traffic, not the number of views, but the accomplishment of the planned effects. The effects of our projects, as a rule, exist in the physical, not the digital space. It is very important to track and analyze the real results of your work. You would agree, the number of views by itself can hardly solve any social problem.

Effect does not equal traffic

Quality of effects

There is an insurmountable gap between an action in the format of viewed / like / share / comment and an action in real life. Especially if this desired action from the viewer concerns a sensitive topic.

The saturation of the digital space triggers another interesting mechanism—a person's desire to strengthen and protect their personal space, making it accessible only for manifestations of private life: separating friends on social networks from those you invite to a family dinner. Therefore, prompting a person to treat content or protagonists they have just met as something or someone of their own, close, and moving—requires special actions.

The value of content

Expensive personal space

Imagine being handed a promotional leaflet on the street. You will most likely throw it into the first trash can. Now imagine being given a good book. You will most in all likelihood take it with you, put it on a shelf, and it will become a part of your home. What distinguishes a promotional leaflet from a book? The quality of content and form. When creating content and embodying it in the format of a multimedia storytelling product, try to create a work that has value and therefore deserves to be preserved and revisited.

What features of the media environment can hinder us in these tasks?

What features of the media environment can hinder us in these tasks?

What features of the media environment can hinder us in these tasks?

What features of the media environment can hinder us in these tasks?

What tools will help us overcome these obstacles?

What tools will help us overcome these obstacles?

What tools will help us overcome these obstacles?

What features of the media environment can hinder us in these tasks?

What features of the media environment can hinder us in these tasks?

If you have conceived some multimedia fragments for which you lack the skills to create, collaborate with talented and proven authors. If you need music—turn to a composer, if an illustration—to an artist. Any forms of partnership and co-creation always enhance the project's strength and its level of value.

method

In designing the form of representation, a virtual 3D space was chosen, which can be explored using keyboard keys. However, the content is revealed sequentially—only upon progressively pressing a button. Thus, at every moment, we prompt the viewer to perform a physical action and engage the channel of physicality.

The visual part of the project is structured in such a way that an abstract multitude of points transforms into new and different types of objects each time we advance through the narrative, creating a puzzle for the viewer.

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